A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of dynamically linking an on-line vendor with one or more supplier networks over a network or through the Internet.
B. Background
The Internet is a worldwide system of linked computer networks that allows thousands of existing corporate and institutional networks to communicate over it using standard communications protocols or signals. That aspect of the Internet known as the World Wide Web simplified these communications even more by providing what are known as hypertext links, and using Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) to allow a user to go from one hypertext link to another over the World Wide Web. (Hypertext is a way of creating and publishing text that chunks information into small units, called nodes, that have what are called hypertext links or anchors embedded in them. When a reader of the text clicks on a hyperlink, the hypertext software (also known as a browser or web browser) displays the node associated with that link. The collection of these nodes is a “web” and the Worldwide Web is a hypertext system that is global in scale.)
The Internet has spawned e-commerce. On-line vendors sell products via the Internet. E-commerce is largely dependent upon the digitization of marketing and commercial literature. Vendors spend vast sums of money digitizing information relating to products so that the users may have virtual access to the product itself. For the most part, Internet vendors compete based on the level of information provided, the format of the information and the ultimate price of the product. To date, Internet vendors have attempted to compete primarily on price and have not emphasized the ease of use of lack of ease of use of on-line shopping. As vendors have no particular interest if one product is selected over another so long as the purchase is made through the vendor, on-line product information have been overlooked.
At the same time, internal corporate networks have grown in popularity. Many companies have created vast electronic databases that contain detailed product information, promotional material, training material and sales information. These company databases generally contain highly confidential business files on the same computers that form the internal network, as well as extremely confidential technical and product files that may be vulnerable to attack and theft or misuse if a connection is made between the internal network and the Internet. Consequently, most companies construct “firewalls” between their internal networks and any gateways to the external world. Most large private networks are built of complex sets of: Local Area Networks (LAN)-a set of computers located within a fairly small physical area, usually less than 2 miles, and linked to each other by high speed cables or other connections; and Wide Area Networks (WAN)-groups of Local Area Networks that are linked to each other over high speed long distance communications lines or satellites that convey data quickly over long distances, forming the “backbone” of the internal network.
These private internal networks use complex hardware and software to transmit, route, and receive messages internally.
Sharing and distributing information inside a corporate network has been made somewhat easier by using client/server technology, web browsers, and hypertext technology used in the Internet, on an internal basis, as the first steps towards creating “intranets.” In typical client/server technology, one computer acts as the “back end” or server to perform complex tasks for the users, while other, smaller computers or terminals are the “front-end” or “clients” that communicate with the user. In a client/server approach the client requests data from the server. A web server is a program that acts as a server function for hypertext information. In large private networks, a server computer might have web server software operating on it to handle hypertext communications within the company's internal network. At the web server site, one or more people would create documents in hypertext format and make them available at the server. In many companies, employees would have personal computers at their desks connected to the internal network. In an “intranet” these employees would use a web browser on their personal computers to see what hypertext documents are available at the web server. While this has been an advance for internal communications over a private network, it requires personnel familiar with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) the language that is used to create hypertext links in documents to create and maintain the “internal” web pages. If a more interactive approach is desired, an Information Technology (IT) specialist in some form of scripting, such as CGI or PERL, is needed who can create forms documents and procedures to allow users to ask for information from the server.
Another option that became available to an information publisher after the advent of the Internet and Web browsers was a form of connection over the Internet that provides secure access, but usually to a more limited set of information, through a “demilitarized zone” or DMZ, using encryption and secure sockets. Since each company would want to protect the privacy of the internal data on its network, each would have a firewall around its network with a “demilitarized zone” (DMZ) outside or as part of the firewall for each other company it wished to reach.
All of these options however have prevented one important marriage of technology that has heretofore eluded the Internet vendor, the selected sharing of supplier and vendor information. Internet vendors have been unable to gain access to supplier information because of cost, security and competition concerns. This has deprived Internet vendors of access to the vast wealth of digitized information already available from product suppliers and has deprived the product supplier of real-time access to purchaser information.
On-line vendors are unable to give detailed product descriptions without incurring huge costs for entering and verifying the accuracy of product information. This problem is of great concern of on-line drugstores. Health products and medicines often have a wealth of information that customers may deem important when choosing the correct medication. For example, cold and flu medicines available to the user are often specifically designed for different types of symptoms. In addition, some medication such as ibuprofen may or may not be preferable to take over acetaminophen depending on certain health factors of the user. On-line vendors, including drugstores, have heretofore been unable to provide the user with economical access to this detailed information and have instead opted for generic product descriptions that provide minimal customer information. Customers must essentially know the product they want rather than shop on-line for a product that meets their needs. It is an object of the present invention to solve this and other problems by dynamically linking on-line vendors and suppliers to the mutual benefit of each party and to the consumer.